From the margins: JK Rowling, Hilary Mantel and Ian McEwan annotate their own works - in pictures

From Amsterdam to Wolf Hall, some of the world's most acclaimed writers have annotated their own first editions. The books will be auctioned at Sotheby's in aid of English PEN. What would you bid for these bibliophiles' dreams?

Friday 17 May 2013 17.30 EDT
First published on Friday 17 May 2013 17.30 EDT

JK Rowling: 'Changed my life forever.' 'No shield here - crest. I mean all that came in the later editions. This one's a bit wonky but you get the idea. Perhaps Hufflepuff house would have the respect it deserves from the fans if I'd stayed with my original idea of a bear to represent it?'

J.K Rowling: Quidditch - ‘was invented in a small hotel in Manchester after a row with my then boyfriend. I had been pondering the things that hold a society together, cause it to congregate and signify its particular character and knew I needed a sport. It infuriates men, in my experience (why is the Snitch so valuable etc), which is quite satisfying given my state of mind when I invented it.’

Helen Fielding on Bridget Jones's Diary: ‘Oh dear. Hugh was really upset about this... putting it in. It was that thing where you forget the famous “person” is the same as the real person. Though had only met him a couple of times. Sent a message via Richard [Curtis] saying ‘will you forgive me if I give you a blow job!’ I won’t tell you what he said but it was very funny...’

Hilary Mantel on Wolf Hall: ‘Frequently asked questions: When did you decide to use the present tense? When did you decide the action should unfold through Cromwell’s eyes? I decided in line one. I knew also that the first line could ‘bookend’ the whole project. It could well be the last line too. Though it probably won’t be.’

Nick Hornby on Fever Pitch: ‘How different this book would be if I were to write it now! Except of course, I couldn’t write it now, I’m too old. Not too old to write at all, because I’m still writing, and I can see that I’ve got better at it. But I’m too old to care about these things as much as I did then. Life and jobs and children and all sorts of things get in the way now. I’m not disowning the book. I’m very proud of it. I’m just saying that it’s a young man’s book, which is why it worked.’

Jeanette Winterson on Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit: ‘Is this character Jeanette, me? I really believed I could write myself as a fiction. And stories seem to me to be the truth of life. And growing up. Better to read yourself as a fiction than as a fact.’

Philip Pullman on Northern Lights: ‘But before her daemon could answer, they heard voices outside the room. In a flash, Lyra darted into the big oak wardrobe in the corner, and held her breath, peeping through the crack in the door.’

Kazuo Ishiguro: ‘This title came about when on a deserted Australian beach, when I asked a group of writers... to come up with something for my almost finished, as-of-yet unnamed novel... It was Judith Herzberg’s on-the-spot translation of a term Freud had used to describe dreams that stayed with me. When I got home, I wrote it at the front of my typescript.’

Margaret Drabble on A Summer Bird-Cage: ‘Re-reading in 2012: observations. Drink-driving acceptable Smoking acceptable Hair Pins- why so many? Abortion illegal then Too much about clothes- Beatniks why? Louise’s good looks are modelled on a Cambridge contemporary. The portrait of Cousin Daphne is unforgiveable - I’m ashamed of it.’ ‘This is a very flippant piece of blurb-biography. I think Barley Alison wrote it, it’s her style. It must have annoyed an awful lot of people.’

Peter Carey on Oscar and Lucinda: ‘This ending has upset so many people who ask how I could possibly do this. My answer is - this is how the book arrived in my mind, when I had no idea who Oscar was. This was his DNA, his fate.’

Margaret Atwood on The Blind Assasin: ‘The cover image is from a Saturday Evening Post cover of 1934. The model was a real debutante, as was the habit then. We tried to blondify the hair, but it looked too much like a bathing cap.’ 'This space was supposed to be occupied by a quote from Elizabeth Smart, whose publication life was in some respects like Laura's - her mother burnt all the copies of her book she could find - but I could not get an answer from the rights controller.'

Michael Morpurgo on War Horse: ‘It turns out that this ‘Author’s Note’ was rather ill-advised. Thanks largely to the National Theatre and Mr Steven Spielberg, people began to turn up at the village hall in Iddesleigh where I live, looking for the picture of Joey. In fact the picture was a fiction if you see what I'm saying. So many disappointed visitors complained to the villagers that we arranged for the fiction to become fact….’

Tom Stoppard: ‘Nov 2012 – My first editions contain lines from which I have to avert my eyes, e.g on p49 – horrible! There are lines I don’t recognise at all (p 20) (21)… and some I cut if involved in rehearsals (24), (33). I’m not sure that p. 68 was ever performed … I think I cut it in rehearsal in 1967! Nowadays one can use previews, like editing in cinema, but R and G opened the day after dress rehearsal.’ ‘I wanted to call the play “Exit Rosencrantz and Guildenstern”, but for the bad grammar – ‘Exeunt R and G’ I didn’t like as a title, so settled for “are dead”.’

PD James on Death of an Expert Witness: ‘I aimed for a creative unity of setting, characterisation, plot and themes. This novel is a classical detective story; it is also about the tragedy and destructive power of obsessive sexual love.’

As Sotheby's prepares to auction first editions of books annotated by 50 top authors, curator and antiquarian book-dealer Rick Gekoski explains how he got all the greats to join in - and some of the secrets they reveal